


Every Single Day

by butterflyslinky



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: M/M, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-18
Updated: 2014-04-18
Packaged: 2018-01-19 20:59:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,572
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1483711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/butterflyslinky/pseuds/butterflyslinky
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ernie Macmillan had never had trouble speaking his mind... until he met Justin Finch-Fletchley. But with the Wizarding World at war, Ernie has to tell Justin everything, because when you love someone, you should tell them every single day.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Every Single Day

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Mugglenet Fanfiction in August, 2011. I wrote this story to prove the theory that any pairing can work as long as the author is a decent writer. Obviously, I have a bit of an ego, but I believe I was proved correct.

The Macmillans have always prided themselves on three things: Their connection to Hufflepuff house, their long bloodline, and always speaking their minds.

The first thing I learned was that if I thought something, I should say it, whether good or bad. And I always have, though I tend to think before I actually say something. I want whatever I say to sound perfect. Sometimes this makes me sound rather highfalutin and, as my friend Hannah tells me, very pompous, but I always get my point across. Everyone knows exactly what I think, whether or not they care. It’s not just my nature. It’s the Macmillan way.

At least, it was until I met Justin Finch-Fletchley.

I couldn’t let him know what I thought about him. I wasn’t sure what would happen, how he would take it. If he took it well, life at Hogwarts would be perfect. If he took it badly, life at Hogwarts would be extremely awkward, if not downright unpleasant. So I said nothing.

Then Hogwarts fell apart and it didn’t matter any more.

When I heard loud bangs and crashes in the middle of the night, I knew something was wrong. Everyone who woke up left the common room to see what was going on, though Harry didn’t give any information as he ran past. I understood why when two Death Eaters followed and we had to get out of the way. They left through the front doors. It was several minutes before any of us felt enough courage to follow.

I will never forget the body by the astronomy tower. Dumbledore was dead.

Dumbledore was dead…

“Back to your dormitories!” Professor Sprout called. “Come on! No use lingering here…”

We all obeyed, not really thinking about anything but our headmaster’s demise. Dumbledore gone… it was over. It had to be.

Although we were told to go to bed, no one did. We just sat in the common room. No one talked much.

I found myself sitting next to Susan Bones. We weren’t close, really, but she had taken Hannah’s place when Hannah was called home. I wasn’t talking to Susan, though. I was staring over at Justin, wishing I could find the words.

“Why don’t you tell him?” Susan asked suddenly.

“What?” I said. “Tell who what?”

“Justin,” she said. “You should tell him.”

I was amazed. I’d never told anyone but Hannah how I felt about Justin. “I… I don’t think I can.”

Susan was quiet for a long time. “I’ve lost four relatives to Death Eaters,” she finally said. “Three of them before I was old enough to understand. But my Auntie… she was one of the smartest people I knew and I was closer to her than to my own mother. I never told her how much she meant to me because I took it for granted that she would always be there. But if I could have her back, I’d never stop telling her.”

“But—“

“The world’s coming apart. There were Death Eaters in the castle tonight. Dumbledore’s dead and You-Know-Who could take over the school at any second, and then what would happen to Justin? He’s Muggle-born and would be killed. You need to say it before that happens. Besides,” she added. “Even if your life isn’t in constant danger, if you love someone you should tell them every single day.”

I nodded and stood up. “I promise to tell him, then,” I said. “Even if he doesn’t want to hear it.”

It was amazing how much more courage it took to walk across the common room and sit down next to Justin than it took to chase Death Eaters across the grounds.

“Hey,” Justin said listlessly. “It’s bad, isn’t it? I don’t know how I’ll…”

“Justin,” I said. I didn’t really want to interrupt him. Whenever he spoke, I usually tuned out everything else to listen, but I wouldn’t be able to say what I needed to say if he kept talking. “I have something really important to tell you and… and I don’t know how to say it, really, but I have to tell you…” I’m not normally one to swear, but I did then, very quietly. “Justin… I love you.”

There was a beat of silence during which I couldn’t meet his eyes, and then he grinned at me. “You bastard,” he said.

“I knew you’d take it like that,” I muttered, starting to stand up.

“We’ve shared a room for six years and you haven’t bothered to tell me till now? And there I was, thinking you were just waiting for the right moment to ask Hannah out!”

“Hannah?” I repeated, starting to laugh. “No, I… I just… well, I didn’t know how you’d take it… and living in the same room made it more awkward…”

“You idiot,” Justin said without rancor. “I’ve wanted to say the same thing for four years, but you never let on!”

At that point, we couldn’t help but laugh. Hogwarts may well have come to an end and we laughed about how we hid all that time. A few people glanced at us, laughing like maniacs in a setting of tragedy, but we couldn’t stop for a good five minutes. Some people looked angry, but most put it down to hysteria. They were partly right.

Once we’d managed to stop laughing, I took Justin’s hand, not caring who saw. “Do you want to come stay with me for the summer?” I asked.

“Of course,” Justin said. “This summer may be the last one we have.”

*

Nothing happened that summer. Actually, quite a lot happened, but all outside. None of it touched me.

For me and Justin, that summer was the eye of the hurricane. My parents were glad to have Justin stay and we were mostly left alone.

It was a peaceful time for us. We knew that the world could come crashing down at any moment, so we didn’t hesitate in our relationship. My mind kept telling me that Justin, as a Muggle-born, would be killed if the Death Eaters won. I couldn’t stand to lose one second with him and I knew he felt the same way.

But then it fell apart. The paper said that the Minister had resigned, but I knew better. The policy changes happened so rapidly there was only one explanation. It was over.

When the Muggle-born Registration was announced, we knew our time was up.

“What are you going to do?” I asked Justin.

“I don’t know,” he admitted. “I don’t have many options. I can either turn myself in or run for it.”

“I could get you on my family tree somewhere,” I said. “A cousin of some sort…”

Justin shook his head. “You’d get in trouble as well,” he said. “And I was attacked by the Chamber, remember? Everyone at Hogwarts knows I’m Muggle-born.”

“So your choices are a trial and a definite sentence to Azkaban or running away with a slight possibility of survival?”

Justin sat next to me and looked into my eyes. “I fancy my chances on the run,” he said. “Harry taught us enough. And if I’m caught, it’ll be a shorter sentence…”

I continued to stare at him. “We have one more night,” I said. “One more night of peace… together.”

Justin nodded and kissed me. And I clung to him tighter than ever before, not wanting to let him go. “Whatever happens,” I whispered to him as we drifted off to sleep. “Even if you can’t hear me, I will tell you every single day that I love you.”

When I woke up, he was gone.

*

“So the Muggle-borns stole magic from the pure-bloods and do not deserve to live in this world. They do not deserve education which they can not use. They have no right to our knowledge…”

I couldn’t take it any more. I stood up and said, “The Muggle-borns have more right to be here than you do.”

At the same point the year before, I wouldn’t have said it. I let people know what I thought, but I wouldn’t interrupt a teacher. Now, though, I was living almost entirely in anger. I woke up angry since the first thing I saw was Justin’s empty bed and my temper escalated from there. I point blank refused to do half of what was ordered in the Dark Arts class and every time I listened to Alecto Carrow’s lectures on Muggles and Muggle-borns being below pure-bloods, I simply wanted to punch her in the face.

I had taken it for two months without saying a word. But that morning I read in the paper that Justin had been caught. He had been arrested and thrown into Azkaban. Justin, who never did anything wrong, who had always kept his head down and done his work without complaint, was in prison simply because of who his parents were. And I couldn’t contact him, couldn’t tell him anything, couldn’t comfort him because our mail was being searched and having contact with a Muggle-born was a punishable offence.

Alecto glared at me and pulled out her wand. “Hands on the wall, Macmillan,” she ordered. I didn’t move. “Now!” she snapped and I was pushed to the wall and my hands were pressed against it.

I didn’t see her conjure a whip. It must have been some sort of spell. Never once did I flinch while she beat me. I made no sound though I felt the pain. After a few lashes I began to black out. I could hear Hannah and Susan screaming, telling her to stop, but she didn’t stop until my knees gave out. Once I had collapsed, she continued her lecture as though nothing had happened. I heard the bell ring distantly, then felt people standing over me.

“Get his other side, Seamus,” came a voice that I thought belonged to Neville, but then I heard nothing.

*

“Why did you say that?” Hannah asked as soon as she was sure I was conscious. “Why didn’t you just keep your mouth shut?”

“Do you think I was wrong?” I asked back. “Do you think that bitch has any more right to be here than Harry and Hermione and…?”

“And Justin,” Hannah finished. “No, I don’t, but I’m not going to say it and get the skin taken off my back!”

“It was worth it,” I said. “I’d take a thousand times more if it would help him.”

“It’s not helping him,” she snapped. “It’s just making you hurt more.”

I took her advice and kept my mouth shut as much as possible. There were a few times when I couldn’t take any more and had to speak out and I was punished, but never as badly as that first time.

But no matter what happened, no matter how bad it got, before I went to sleep each night, I looked at Justin’s empty bed and whispered, “Justin, I love you.”

*

I don’t want to talk about the Battle of Hogwarts. The subjects been covered in enough history books by enough people that I think I can skip it. I survived, though a number of people I considered my friends were injured or killed.

The day after the battle, Harry found me. “Kingsley wants everyone who can produce a Patronus,” he said. “We’re going to free the Muggle-borns from Azkaban.”

“I’m in,” I said immediately. Justin was in there. I could save him.

The moment we reached the prison, we were told to cast our Patronuses. The Dementors responded immediately and fled the island. “We will track them later,” Shacklebolt said. He waved his wand and the doors to all the cells flew open. “Attention,” Shackelebolt called. “Lord Voldemort has fallen. You are all being released. There are Portkeys to the Ministry out here, where your wands will be returned and you will receive compensation for your imprisonment. There will also be Healers at the Ministry to examine all of you.”

There was silence, then the Muggle-borns began to stumble out. They were all ragged and thinner than any people I had ever seen. I barely spared the group a glance. I had to find Justin.

“Sir?” I said. “May I go and find a… a friend of mine?”

Shacklebolt nodded and I went in, slipping past the Muggle-borns still finding their way out. “Justin!” I called, hurrying down, looking in every door. “Justin?”

I found him near the end of the fourth row. He hadn’t risen at Shacklebolt’s words, but when I came in, he tried to push himself into a sitting position. I hurried to his side.

“Justin! Are you...?” I couldn’t even ask because I knew what the answer was. Justin had lost more weight than anyone in the D.A. had at Hogwarts.

But Justin smiled. “I knew you would come,” he whispered.

I pulled him into my arms, crying. “It’s over,” I said. “You-Know-Who is finished. I’ll take you out of here, back to the Ministry, and you’ll be all right.”

“I know,” he said. “I just can’t quite… I can’t stand…”

“Come on,” I said, pulling his arm around my shoulders. “I’ve got you. It’s okay.”

I wasn’t the only member of Shacklebolt’s team carrying someone out. There were a dozen prisoners who couldn’t walk on their own.

We caught a Portkey to the Atrium, where a number of desks had been set up. There were lines at each desk and as each Muggle-born reached the front of the line, they were given their wands and a sizeable compensation. Healers were walking up and down the lines, examining the Muggle-borns, and passing out chocolate which had been donated.

The Healer who reached us first was a matronly woman who smiled too much for anyone in her position. She examined Justin, who was beginning to regain his footing, and said that all that was needed as to go home and eat a decent meal, but slowly, and then to get plenty of rest. I nodded as we reached the front of the line.

Hermione Granger was running the desk we were at. “Finch-Fletchley,” she muttered, digging through a box of files. “Here…” She pulled Justin’s wand from the file and counted out his compensation. “Free to go.”

“Thanks, Hermione,” Justin muttered. We moved away to where we could Apparate out. “Your house?” I said.

Justin nodded. “My mother’s probably worried.”

*

Mrs. Finch-Fletchley was worried and she practically had a heart attack when Justin and I arrived at her door. It took quite some time to explain what had happened, but once she understood that Justin was going to be fine, she calmed down and set to work nursing him back to health.

I helped as best I could. Classes at Hogwarts were all canceled due to the aftermath of the battle, though Professor McGonagall sent a letter saying that anyone who wanted to sit their NEWTs as scheduled was welcome to do so.

Justin made a full recovery soon enough and we were both able to take our NEWTs the next year. Once our results came back, we got decent jobs and moved on in our careers. Within three years, we were able to find a place of our own.

Our life hasn’t been perfect. No one’s life ever is. But every night before we go to sleep, I lean over and whisper in his ear, “Justin, I love you.”

Every single day.


End file.
